Safety and security have emerged as a major force driving change in the multinational hotel industry. As a problem area not well-developed in the literature but considered a crucial force influencing hotel firms' value by the multinational hotel community, safety and security provide an excellent opportunity for industry professionals and academic researchers to improve the value creation of multinational hotel firms. A research need is more urgent in the upscale sector of the industry, and thus, an upscale brand of multinational hotel firm was selected for this study. This case study investigated how a multinational hotel firm developed a process of valuing its investments in safety and security for its properties under an upscale brand. This European hotel firm operates in twenty countries with a variety of business climates. The differences in the remote environments, namely the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, and ecological environments, presented a great opportunity to gather different views regarding safety and security investments from hotel managers. The dimensions of hotel safety and security were identified by management teams running the firm's hotels to provide scope for decision-making. With this scope, the management teams continued to develop a framework for assessing the value generated from investments in safety and security by identifying the components of an investment decision-making model. A framework as a result of this exploratory study is suggested for future research where causality can be specified and a descriptive decision-making model can be built. / Ph. D.

The previous chapters described in detail the literature, theory and research on Co-alignment, RBV and SHRM that was the basis for the development of a construct for the conceptualization of HPWP in the casual theme restaurant sector of the US hospitality industry for management. Firms able to implement such HPWP systems possessing universality, i.e. complementary internal fit, have been shown to increase the intangible value of their human capital (employees) and create greater economic value (Delery, 1998). This study used the co-alignment principle in conjunction with concepts in SHRM and RBV to develop a theory for a HPWP system for casual theme restaurants in the US, which is named a High Performance People System (HPPS). The co-alignment model for hospitality organizations which is the foundation of the theoretical model for this research (Olsen, West, and Tse;1998) describes the relationship between four key constructs, i.e. the environment, strategy choice, firm structure, and firm performance. Briefly, the four constructs in the model must be in alignment with each other in order for the firm to produce the greatest value for its stakeholders. Co-alignment theory purports that, "if the firm is able to identify the opportunities that exist in the forces driving change, invest in competitive methods that take advantage of these opportunities, and allocate resources to those that create the greatest value, the financial results desired by owners and investors have a much better chance of being achieved" (Olsen et al. 1998, p.2). SHRM researchers have been advocates of the theory that supports the causal relationship between HRM practices, sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) and firm performance. Several strategic human resource management researchers such as, Cappelli & Singh (1992),Wright & McMahan (1992), Pfeffer (1994), Lado & Wison (1995), Huselid (1995), Jackson & Schuler (1995),Becker & Gerhart (1996), Delany & Huselid (1996), Boxall (1998), Pfeffer (1998), Schuler & Jackson (2000), Ulrich & Beatty (2001), Lepak & Snell (2002), Hartog (2004) and others have directly or indirectly made attempts to theorize the effects of single or multiple human resource management variables on firm performance. These efforts have led to the incremental development of the strategic human resource management literature that stresses the relationships between the HRM practices, SCA and firm performance. There is an emergent body of evidence demonstrating that "the methods used by an organization to manage its human resources can have a substantial impact on many organizationally relevant outcomes" (Delery, 1998, p. 1). Convoluting the research on HPWP is incongruity among researchers on the micro HRM practices which are included in the SHRM system; there is little concurrence among scholars with respect to specifically which human resource practices should be incorporated (Becker & Gerhart, 1996; Rogers & Wright, 1998; Chadwick & Cappelli, 1999). RBV is one of the ten schools of thought in the field of management theory (Mintzberg, 2000) and is predicated on the concept that in order to create a sustainable competitive advantage and produce value for the firm, individual policies or practices produce the greatest results when they operate in a complex system that is not easily imitated (Barney, 1995). Resources are the "physical things a firm buys, leases or produces for its own use or the people hired on terms that make them effectively part of the firm" (Penrose, 1959: 67). Wernerfelt (1984) defines a firm's resources as "tangible or intangible assets which are tied semi-permanently to the firm" (p. 172). Barney (1991) further suggested that resources which can be used to create a SCA must have value, rareness, inimitability and substitutability The research focused on the discovery of the components of a HPWP system construct in the US casual theme restaurant segment for operating managers and the performance metrics used to judge their effectiveness. An exploratory study, in part using the Delphi method, serves as the overall research approach. A cross section of restaurant industry experts including company executives, consultants, academics and investors/owners contributed to the study. The outcome is a list of HRM work practices that are common to the casual theme restaurant industry and performance metrics. Based on prior empirical work the study started with 14 HRM work practice dimensions (See Table 3.1) and 3 performance measurements of productivity, turnover and financial performance (Huselid, 1995; Huselid & Becker, 1995; Delery & Doty, 1996; Becker & Huselid, 1996; Huselid & Becker, 1997; Hartog, 2004). These dimensions and performance metrics were presented to the panel of expert's making up the pilot study group as a starting point in the development of the HPWP system construct for the casual themed restaurant industry. After compiling the results of the pilot study and pretesting the survey instrument, the first Delphi survey (see Appendix 3) and a subsequent reminder were sent out electronically to the preselected Delphi participants for the study. A consensus on the research questions was not reached from the first-round survey according to the protocol Therefore, the second round was administered which provide opportunity for participants to change their position to help the group reach a consensus. Since consensus was reached according to the protocol (see tables 4.9, 4.12 & 4.13), the Delphi was concluded at this point. In summary, figure 1.1 put forth a conceptual model to clarify the relationships between the above mentioned schools of thought and firm performance. Figure 1.2 presented a working theoretical model which expounds on the relationships between the key concepts in the conceptual model and firm performance. Finally, figure 5.1 displays the results and the relationships of the study which methodically confirms the components of a HPPS for unit level managers, and identifies appropriate evaluation criteria for determining the performance of HPPS in the US casual restaurant market. / Ph. D.

The importance of testing the co-alignment model has been emphasized by several researchers in the past. The present study is an attempt to test the model using theories in corporate finance and strategic management, which will also prove the commonalties that exist between these domains of business research. This will help support the arguments of some researchers in the hospitality industry who have stressed the importance of assessing the firm's strategies using concepts in finance. The overall objective of this study is to test the viability of the co-alignment model using strategic management and corporate finance theory. The present study identifies the dimensions and variables using prior research within each of the constructs studied under the management and corporate finance domains, vis-a-vis environment risk, corporate strategy, capital structure and firm performance. The relationship between the constructs and dimensions were tested for the dependencies between them using surrogates used in prior research through a priori hypothesized relationships. The unit of analysis was the corporate level, and hence, the study included corporate level data of restaurant firms. The research design included cross-sectional data of restaurant firms that were averaged across an a priori defined time period. These firms were selected based on certain criteria that helped control for country effects and industry effects. Therefore, the publicly traded firms selected as part of the sample were based in the U.S. serving markets predominantly within the country. The statistical analysis was conducted using cross-sectional regression. Results indicate that a high variance in firm performance is explained by the co-alignment between environment risk, corporate strategy, and capital structure. Furthermore, the hypothesized relationships between variables that represent the constructs hold good while using accrual and cash flow returns as surrogates of firm performance. This key finding provides the base for future research efforts, which could focus on developing the model through the use of surrogates that are used in both strategic management and corporate finance research. Also, the sample could be extended to include privately owned restaurant firms that serve markets within the U.S., which will help improve the generalizability of the co-alignment model. / Ph. D.

As competition has changed and made the environment more dynamic and complex for the hospitality and tourism industry, the concept of strategic management has become more important. However, under the force driving change of technology innovation, information has gone digital and electronic for business development and management. Adopting information technology (IT) for strategic management becomes an important issue for an organization. The co-alignment model is believed to be one of the effective models for the purposes of strategic management in the field of hospitality and tourism. The primary objective of this study was to investigate important considerations for the design of an information system (IS) to improve the utility of the model. Once the important considerations are taken into account for constructing the system, such an IS is expected to facilitate the information flows associated with the co-alignment model and further work in concert with the model to strengthen the processes of strategy formulation and implementation. Together, the co-alignment model and the IS can be viewed as a Coordination Strategy Framework which also has theoretical underpinning from the review of the literature of strategy, hospitality and tourism, management information system (MIS), computer science (CS), and information science. Because this research topic or its similar kind has not been studied in the field of hospitality and tourism, this study is exploratory in nature. A qualitative research approach adopting a single-case study method was used. Using the co-alignment model as one of its theoretical supports along with other techniques to collect and test the interview data, the study achieved reliability and validity of the research findings. As a major part of the conclusions of this study, the findings are the important considerations for the design of the future IS. They included the seven key issues in five dimensions, eleven recommendations, and ten propositions that explained the relationships among the managerial aspects implicated in the framework implementation, especially the interactions between the future IS and the co-alignment model. Furthermore, as the framework is an integration of a strategy model and an IT application, it also gives a new perspective to the term "strategic IT" that denotes the strategic use of IT. / Ph. D.